A hard disk drive acts as the temporal lobe of your computer. It is a spinning disk that stores your data in binary code using magnetism. This device stores the software of the computer including the files created by the software.
These sorts of files include your pictures, music, downloads, documents and anything you have created. The first ever hard disk drive was launched in September 1956 by IBM, although in 1991 a new device was made capable of higher speeds, known as a solid state drive.
Solid state drives and hard disk drives have the same purpose. They both store your data and lives in the same location, however, the method in which your data is stored differs.
A solid state drive stores your data in microchips, comparatively like a USB just larger and more sophisticated, effectively making it quicker.
Data from an SSD can be retrieved instantly because there is no internal physical movement. Currently, SSD’s are roughly five times more expensive than HDD’s in terms of memory size, but remarkably faster.
Your operating system and important files work and operate from these devices. Over time these devices health deteriorates due to a number of reasons. Whether it be from age or physical damage they WILL fail eventually.
Sectors of these storage spaces can become corrupt and unreadable, meaning the data and files held within could subsequently develop into unreadable or hard to retrieve data.
There are multiple ways to keep your system’s files and data safe. Whether it’s personal or business data, preventative measures to secure your system is imperative.
Certain programs can monitor the health of your HDD’s and/or SSD’s to give you an indication of life-length. We at Mobile PC Pro recommend the program Hard Disk Sentinel.
Hard Disk Sentinel is free to buy and is considerably user friendly. The program clearly outlines the health of your HDD or SSD and warns you when corruption has taken place. Although, a more pro-active approach to preventing data loss is data backups.
Saving your data to a secondary storage device is paramount, especially in a business environment. In the unfortunate event your storage device has become corrupt, having implemented a backup scheme has become your lifeline.
Programs such as Acronis have scheduled backups so your data is automatically copied to a secondary storage device, leaving you with peace of mind.
An alternative option is cloud backups. Syncing your data online to a cloud can prevent data loss in extreme situations such as natural disaster when all physical drives are damaged or lost.
Google drive offers a generous 15 gigabytes of storage for free with your google account. Mobile PC Pro recommends safe guarding using both a physical external drive alongside cloud backups.
For more information and plans in regards to protection and data backups, contact Mobile PC Pro for a free quote.
